Elimination of Chrome Plating on Landing Gear Components

The REACH legislature banning the use of Chromium will severely affect the global aircraft manufacturing and servicing markets. Air-Framers such as Boeing and Airbus etc. need to adopt an alternative to chrome plating on the landing gears that they purchase from the landing gear manufacturers. These decisions are more complex than simply selecting an alternative protective coating applied on the landing gear components. What are the options that the air-framers can choose from.

Option 1: Since the chromium ban is strictly imposed within the EU, would the air-framers consider buying chrome plated landing gear shipsets for use on aircrafts not intended for sale or service within the EU?

Option 2: Will the air-framers choose to purchase landing gear shipsets that use a chrome plating alternative?

Personally, option 1 doesn’t make good business sense, if I’m the person responsible for purchasing aircrafts from the air-framers I would insist on having my entire fleet of aircrafts serviceable anywhere. I would also insist that the aircrafts comply with all environmental legislature in effect.

Based on what I’ve seen and heard to date air-framers are electing to choose option 2. Boeing back in November 2022 informed their B737 landing gear supplier to eliminate the chrome plating process on all B737 component drawings. Airbus has now eliminated the chrome plating process on certain landing gear components on their A321 Neo landing gears.

European MRO’s may view this chromium ban differently, this REACH legislature will severely impact their repair and overhaul existing methods and procedures. These MROs are currently using chrome plating is their landing gear repair and overhaul daily practices, so what are their options when the ban officially comes into effect in September 2024.

Option 1: The MROs may decide to eliminate chrome plating totally and replace this harmful coating technology with a GREENER alternative, which will allow them to repair and overhaul their clients landing gears onsite and in a timely manner. 

Option 2: The MROs may decide to strip down the landing gears and send the parts to MRO facilities in other countries that are not part of the EU and therefore not affected by the REACH legislature regarding chromium. This option would more than likely not sit well with their airline clients since this option would require that their airplanes emain grounded for a longer period since their landing gear components were sent abroad for repair. You might be saying to yourself, No Way would this be a possible option to bypass to the ban on chrome plating but trust me it’s not as far-fetched as you may think. Without naming names, I recently had a discussion with Material & Process Technology Manager for a landing gear manufacturer that told me that their company is looking into this option to circumvent the EU REACH legislature. 

Maybe it’s just me but haven worked within the landing gear market segment for 20-years and fully understanding the complexity of shipping parts for processing to multiple suppliers located in different parts of the world, it’s a logistic nightmare and an extremely costly alternative to simply replacing the current chrome plating technology with the GREEN alternative technology.

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